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Columbia, Aiken and Burke counties have issued a two-hour delay for Tuesday only, but will continue to monitor the weather for any possible adjustments to Wednesday’s schedule, according to officials from the systems.

Students in all five districts should report to their normal bus stops two hours later than usual on those days.

Employees in Richmond and Columbia counties should report to work at their normal times, while Edgefield faculty and staff members will be on a one-hour delay. Staffers in Aiken County will also report two hours later with the students.

Burke County employees must report to school by 8:30 a.m., about 45 minutes later than normal.

Augusta Preparatory Day School announced it will also begin classes two hours later on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Students at St. Mary on the Hill School should report at 10 a.m. and will be dismissed at 2:50 p.m.

According to a Richmond County School System statement, the decision to delay school is made based on road conditions, the amount of ice that has accumulated, parking lot conditions and the actions of neighboring systems.

Because many students walk to school or wait outside for the bus, the temperature and wind chill also are taken into account.

All affected districts are urging parents to use the extra time in the mornings to dress children in warm clothes and in several layers to brave the frigid temperatures.

Accuweather projects Augusta’s high for Tuesday to be 30 degrees and its low to be 9. The coldest Jan. 7 high on record is 32 degrees and the lowest low was 15.

The chill could also tie for the fifth-coldest January high temperature ever recorded. According to National Weather Service data, high temperatures dropped to 30 degrees in 1982 and twice in January of 1970.

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Because Richmond County wants to squeeze every minute of work from them. And if they have children that are on 2 hour delay, that's their problem as to how to get them there.

Ryan, many children in RC don't have adequate winter clothing, because it is so seldom this cold. It's also going to be hard to start the buses in the morning, RCBOE doesn't have the engine heaters that cold-weather places have. They park them outside because this is unusual cold. In other places, they park buses under a shelter or in an enclosure to protect them from the cold.

If teachers don't report at the regular time, that time will have to be made up during the year. I'll never forget working during Larke's administration where schools would close because of potential weather issues and by the mid morning the conditions would be a non-issue. And we would have to make up that time at the end of the school year.

If you have been a teacher like me, there is plenty to do during that 2 hour stretch such as lesson planning, catching up on paperwork, etc.

Because of the issues with starting the buses, students would be exposed to frigid weather while waiting for the bus, or walking to school. You have to remember that includes little kindergarteners as well as high school students.

Back when my son was still in school, I'd walk him to the bus stop and wait with him until the bus came. One morning, I looked at the road and it was one continuous sheet of ice. Told my son, let's go home, it's too dangerous to ride the bus.

We walked part way back to the house, when, lo and behold, the bus showed up. Told my son to keep walking home, that bus will be back in two hours to bring everybody back.

Two hours later, the bus came back and dropped off the kids. All that time, to and from the school on dangerously icy roads.

Turns out that the dear lady running the office that determined whether or not the buses should run had recently been replaced by a man.

I figured that, probably being a mom, she would have called for a day off. The guy probably figured that if he had to show up for work, then the kids could show up for school. Maybe, maybe not.

I, too, used to wonder why there would be delays when the city streets were perfectly passable. Someone explained that the condition of rural roads figured into the equation when making decisions about delays in school openings or closures during inclement weather.